Current and Upcoming
Publicity:
January – March 2009
Throughout January and February, BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity has
focused on Valentine’s Day, the Underground Railroad, and value
vacations. Click the links below to read the press releases.

BedandBreakfast.com
Blog: Each time an editor visits a BedandBreakfast.com
member, trip reports are posted on our blog. Additionally, we’ve
added many great photos and stories from innkeepers. Keep the news
and photos coming! BedandBreakfast.com editors also love to stay
with members when they travel. If you’re interested in hosting us,
let
Marti Mayne know. You can see where some of us will be by
checking the Innkeeper News Calendar;
we’d love to post a trip report about your region on the blog.

Change photos often: Media are always on the lookout for
timely photos. Photos from your listing pages are often linked to
releases posted in the
BedandBreakfast.com Press Room, also visited by media worldwide.
Most importantly, timely photos on your BedandBreakfast.com page
motivate consumers to book. Now that spring is coming, replace the
holiday and winter photos with visions of spring and summer. Not
sure how to post photos?
Click here to log in to your Home Base on BedandBreakfast.com,
click Photos under Free Member Benefits, then upload
photos following the easy instructions. Don’t forget! If you have
high-resolution photos or videos, please post them on
BedandBreakfast.com. When the media wants high-res photos and
videos, we look for them on BedandBreakfast.com, so be sure to post
yours soon.

Coming up: Our next press release covers Presidential
Packages. Please be sure to post packages that include visits to
Presidential sites or stays in Presidential suites under the
Presidential Packages section by clicking the Specials link
on your Home Base.

It’s time for the sixth annual BedandBreakfast.com Tanks a Lot
promotion! Last year, the editorial coverage generated by this story
garnered 56.7 million media impressions with a retail value of more
than $50,000, with far more consumer credibility than you could get
from paid advertising.

Because gas prices have dropped dramatically since last summer,
we’ve re-named this promotion Tanks for Traveling, including
offers beyond free gas. We want to collect hundreds of value-rich
offers to encourage B&B travel this spring and summer. Your offer
might include a free gas card, free dinner for two, or even a free
night’s stay (for multi-night stays). With the media abuzz about
value in 2009, we expect this story and your offer will receive both
consumer and media attention.

The media will be visiting the "Tanks for Traveling" specials on
BedandBreakfast.com to learn about all offers, so please add your
offer under this category.

We encourage you to post the most clever, value-filled, and/or
eco-friendly offer you can; a little humor always captures media
attention. To see how creative innkeepers were in the past, take a
look at the Tanks a Lot packages from
2007 and
2008. At a minimum, to participate, you must:

Offer at least $25 in added value; gas relief can come in the form of
gas station gift cards, cash or a discount off the room rate, incentives
for mileage traveled to your inn, or additional incentives. Dinners, spa
services, or other amenities will work too, along with discounts for
multi-night stays, family packages and more. Another approach could be
to encourage eco-travel with rewards for carpooling or fuel-efficient
cars.

Continue the offer at least through the month of June, longer if
possible.

The
offer can be restricted to midweek, non-holiday, multiple-night stays.

Please
specify all details of your package, including your "Tanks for Traveling"
offer, the validity dates, and whether you welcome children, including
rates/ages if applicable. Please post your offer by
February 20, 2009. While we regret we won’t be able to include
every offer in our press release, we will read them all and include a broad
geographic range of packages.

Many “tanks” in advance for posting your packages on BedandBreakfast.com.

Additionally, we are on the hunt for Tech-Savvy B&Bs: If Marriott can
add WiiTM
systems to guest rooms, there's no reason B&Bs can't do so too. Do you have
computer games available for your guests? Have you added Wii systems to your
game rooms or guest rooms (or do you plan to)? Do you have iPod docking
stations or other tech-toys for guest use? If so, "Wii" want to hear about
it. We're not interested in computers for guest use, unless you've added
some new release games or other bells and whistles to it. Please email
Marti@BedandBreakfast.com with the details of your tech toys by
February 20. If enough inns and B&Bs
respond, we'll create a release that's sure to get the media's attention.

To add specials:
Click here to log in to your Home Base on BedandBreakfast.com, then
click the Specials link to add your packages. Be sure to include all
relevant information including rates, validity dates, whether children/pets
are welcome, and the costs. (Silver-level members and above may post
specials. Bronze member? Please
click here to upgrade. Not yet a member?
Join today!

Ask the Pros
We’re often asked, “Why bother with public relations?” As the economy
tightens, many innkeepers are taking a hard look at the value of their
marketing programs.
E-Releases.com, a trusted press release distribution service, recently
reminded us how important PR campaigns can be. Here’s what they suggest:

“Publicity
Builds Credibility
Publicity buys the one thing advertising never will: credibility. When
you get mentioned in a column or article, you gain the trust and respect
of readers. That's why so many companies frame their press clippings in
lobbies, post copies/scans to their websites, and get reprints to share
with potential and existing customers.

“Press
Releases Create Long-Term Goodwill
Until you fully understand the value of PR, you're likely to treat press
releases as a short-term advertising vehicle without recognizing it as a
long-term secret weapon. Each press release should act to get your name
out there among the media, conveying a newsworthy angle/pitch aimed at
stirring some interest. Even when a writer doesn't use your press
release, your name gets etched in his or her mind for a future story or
idea. When that same writer gets your second or twentieth press release,
he or she will already have some familiarization with your company and
be much more receptive to your pitch.”

BedandBreakfast.com is committed to branding the B&B experience through a
highly visible campaign. In 2008, 630.1 million impressions were made
through BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign. If purchased as
advertising, this coverage would have cost nearly $1 million. Yet the
credibility of a story in a newspaper, on TV, on the Internet or in a
magazine is the real payoff to BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity efforts.
Study upon study shows that the stories travelers read are far more likely
to result in a buying action than advertising.

Let's Hear it from the
Media
Kiplingers.com, a trusted personal advice and finance forecasting
website, named BedandBreakfast.com among the top 30 travel sites. They said,
“To find smaller inns and B&Bs, try Bedandbreakfast.com. It lists extensive
details on even the tiniest inns, plus ’hot deals’ in your desired location.
And you can search for specific amenities, including pet- and
family-friendly features.”

Recent BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage
Media coverage over the past two months has ranged from stories in TIME
magazine for BedandBreakfast.com members to press releases included on
Yahoo! and more. Here are some of the highlights.

Gift Card Coverage: Pauline Frommer,
well known guidebook author and travel journalist, appeared on
CNN
in a segment about romantic Valentine’s Day getaways, suggesting that
viewers go to BedandBreakfast.com for gift cards and B&B choices throughout
the world.

Independent Traveler included BedandBreakfast.com gift cards in their
story about gift ideas for travelers. Additionally, the
Gift Giving Guy offered last minute ideas for procrastinating holiday
shoppers in a story including BedandBreakfast.com gift cards.

Coverage for White House Inns story:
BedandBreakfast.com’s story about White House inns was timed to pique the
media’s interest around the Presidential Inauguration. Pickup included a
story featured on the home page of
travelingmom.com and a feature story in
Wandering Educators.com.

Coverage resulting from BedandBreakfast.com's B&Bs
with Ties to the Underground RR release: BedandBreakfast.com’s
compilation of inns with ties to the Underground RR was featured throughout
January. A story in
Examiner.com included BedandBreakfast.com’s list of great American homes
once part of the Underground Railroad. Additionally, BedandBreakfast.com’s
story was posted to
Associated Content for pick up by other publications.

BedandBreakfast.com
partnered with
National Geographic Traveler to feature 12 romantic inns and a special
promotion on The Getaway Gift Card™ from BedandBreakfast.com. The story went
to the 250,000 people on the National Geographic A-List and also will stay
on their site for two weeks. Additionally,
TIME.com included a number of BedandBreakfast.com members mentioned in
the site’s annual press release about great ideas for single Americans on
Valentine’s Day.

Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards:
Coverage for Best of BedandBreakfast.com award winners continues. The
Granbury Inn was included in a story in the
Austin American-Statesman including mention of their Best of
BedandBreakfast.com award. The
Post-Tribune did a story about Songbird Prairie B&Bs Best of the Midwest
Award too.

Coverage resulting from working directly with
reporters:
Ron
Kapon mentioned BedandBreakfast.com’s donations to eco groups and listed
eco-friendly inns in a story about eco-lodging sent to Everywhere Magazine,
Bergen County Magazine, and The Fifty Best, Resident newspaper Group.
Smarter Travel included BedandBreakfast.com in a story about great deals
for B&B consumers, and BedandBreakfast.com’s innkeeper survey was mentioned
in a press release distributed by
Vacation Rental Hotspots.

WashingtonPost.com
quoted Marti Mayne of BedandBreakfast.com extensively in a story about
getting the best hotel room for the best price. Marti Mayne and Brooke
Ferencsik from TripAdvisor were the two experts mentioned throughout the
story.

This Month's Sponsor

Reviews = Reservations

No doubt about it:
travelers want reviews, and they are more likely to stay at an inn that
has reviews posted. An easy way to get more reviews on your listing is to
add a reviews widget (one version shown below) to your website.
Log in to your Home Base and click Reviews Widget for more
details.

Inns for Sale -- NEW!

Inns for Sale has been redesigned!

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER:Sign up for
three months, and get three months free! Contact us for details. 800-GO-B-AND-B,
Support@BedandBreakfast.com.

New features include:

Newly designed listing pages, with large photos, links, and great content.

"BedandBreakfast.com is one of the best links I have. Helping us out when
times are tough is wonderful. Monthly payments make my life easier! You
improve every month and I cannot afford to lose a website like yours." --
Sarah Fenton, Gardens Retreat, Bellevue, WA

Innkeepers' Info Center

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info? You’ll find lots of educational
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